We will be staying in Kaiserslautern the majority of the trip but also staying in Berlin. Nonfiction OR fiction. Thank you.

Non-fiction. If you look on the web you can find books about specific regions in Germany. Otherwise, I always look at Fodor's, Frommer's and LonelyPlanet, to start with.

Google up where you'll be staying and you'll be surprised at the amount of information available in that area.

I do my planning extensively upfront. That way, if it's a weather issue or strike or..., I have an alternative place to visit.

You are looking for books to read (novels, memoirs, histories, etc.) rather than travel books, right? I always try to read books set in the places I am visiting before I go too - I feel like it helps me get a better understanding of the place.

I haven't been to that part of Germany, so I don't have any specific suggestions for Berlin, but if you are interested in WWII era stuff, there seems to be an explosion of books of all genres from that era recently. Also, a fair amount about WWI era.

The Book Thief is an interesting novel - it takes place in WWII Munich, but you might check it out.

The Fall of Giants is the latest by Ken Follet - it is a wonderful book that takes place before, during, and after WWI. It follows different characters through their experiences - Brits, a couple Americans, Germans, Russians. It is interesting to see the same events through the eyes of different people. It is also the first in a trilogy, the 2nd book should be released soon.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. It takes place in 1933-1934 in Berlin. Very easy to read and very interesting.

november_moon: I love Ken Follet's books but have not read his latest- thanks. I did read The Book Thief and loved it but haven't read many others depicting that country. Yrs. ago I read a book about Hitler and the main character was a female small/short person. I was captivated. Heigl, I think, was the author. I then read the prequal to that story. adirenne thanks for your pick also. I had better get busy even tho I am not going until July. I was not very clear but yes, I like to read novels, memoirs, etc. of a location that I am traveling to.

Dyer, I think you're referring to Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi.

I recommend also a "quiet" spy thriller: Zoo Station by David Downing. Takes place in Berlin.

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor (mostly Bavaria)
A Small City in Germany by John LeCarré (Bonn)

Simon Winder's <i>Germania</i>
Peter Watson's <i>The German Genius</i>

Thank you grandmere - I had forgotten about that book until I posted this request. It will be a Christmas gift for my adult children, that and Ursula Hegi's prequal to Stones from the River.

Thank you grandmere, Vttraveler and farremog for your suggestions - I will check these books out.

Dyer, for a contemporary look at Germany, I would suggest reading spieigelonlineinternational – overview of contemporary issues with great photo-essays.

For Berlin, there's an excellent anthology in the City Lit series:
http://www.oxygenbooks.co.uk/berlin.html

This could also give you suggestions as to wider reading if you've time, e.g., Anna Funder's Stasiland on life in East Germany

"Fodor's, Frommer's and LonelyPlanet" of these LonelyPlanet is not bad, the first two are generally mediocre. Rough Guide is by far the best

Thank you latedaytraveler and PatrickLondon

<<<<<Rough Guide is by far the best

I have a copy that it a few years old, and it is brilliant. It was essentially written by a Mr. Gordon McLachlan, and it is perfectly balanced, perfectly structured, and spot-on about everything. Very concise, but with perfect perspective.

My favorite German-related book in the last couple years is a Third Reich thing, which might not be what you want and need for this trip, but the insights are mind-boggling. "Travels In The Reich" is a compendium of first-person accounts from the early '30's till the end of the war. Lots of phenomenal prose, lots of very unique individual insights - - from French philosophers to Danish journalists to American novelists - - telling jaw-dropping stories. My fave is W.E. DuBois's comparison of how he is treated as a black man in Nazi Germany (with acceptance, honor, and dignity) vs. the U.S. (you can imagine) - - accompanied by his breathtakingly vivid historical analysis of German history between the wars. You cannot make this stuff up.

You might try "Cafe Berlin" by Harold Nebenzal. It is a very atmospheric novel about 1930's Berlin.

I also recommend Simon Winder's "Germania"

I have traveled extensively around that part of Germany when I was stationed in Stuttgart with the military. I do recommend traveling along the Neckar River area...lots of wonderful small towns and castles with interesting histories and its not too from Kaiserlauten.

I know everyone hates any type of self promotion on these threads but I will tell you I also just wrote a travel memoir about living in a small town, Gundelsheim, on the Neckar River and you can check out a preview of it on my website www.discoveringgermany.com. I tried to write alot about some of the places that arn't covered in the major German guidebooks.

"You might try "Cafe Berlin" by Harold Nebenzal. It is a very atmospheric novel about 1930's Berlin."

If you are going to recommend this then I'd also recommend 'Goodbye to Berlin' by Christopher Isherwood, which is semi-autobiographical and set in the same period. It's the book on which the film Cabaret was based. It says less about the scenery in Germany than about the morals and values prevalent in Berlin between the wars. You have to remind yourself how out-there their thinking was at that time to fully appreciate it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_to_Berlin

Lavandula

Everyone, thank you so much. I am going to start with our library today, and then go to a bookstore this week. I better get to reading!!